Instagram announced the launch of a ‘Family Centre’, which will enable parents and guardians to access supervision tools, resources and information from leading experts on child safety, in the city on Wednesday. This feature will be available in Tamil, among other languages.
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Speaking about Meta’s focus on the safety of teens online, Natasha Jog, Head, Public Policy, Instagram, Facebook India (Meta) also unveiled parental supervision tools, which aim at getting more parents and guardians involved in their teens’ online experience.
“The parental supervision tool can be initiated by the parent or the teen through the Instagram app. This is a crucial part of our efforts towards youth safety, privacy and well being. Through consultations with parents and guardians, we have repeatedly heard about how they would like to know more about what is happening in the online lives of their teens and need resources to educate themselves for the same,” Ms. Natasha explained.
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The supervision tools on Instagram will enable parents and guardians to manage how much time their children spend on Instagram by setting screen time limits and scheduling breaks, as well as view what accounts their children follow and the accounts that follow them. The parents or guardians will also be notified if their children report someone on the platform.
“The idea here is to encourage conversations between parents and children on what their experience online is like. These supervision tools are mechanisms we can put in place for young people to remain safe, and ensure at the same time that they have their privacy and autonomy while using Instagram,” Ms. Natasha said.
The Family Centre has been conceived as an education hub where parents and guardians can access resources from experts on a range of topics including online safety and mental health. Guides which focus on dealing with exam stress, an LGBTQ guide on being safe online, creating safe spaces, and healthy digital habits have been made accessible users.